Flames of the Heart
by CelestialSpiritQueen
Summary: Natsu Dragneel gets drafted to go to Alvarez to fight for Fiore which means leaving his girlfriend, Lucy Heartfilia for months as he goes off to war. Watch as the couple struggles with being apart from each other and how they handle challenges without the aid of their partner. Multichapter Nalu fic, Military AU.
1. Leaving without you

Lucy never knew that love could hurt so much. She had always imagined from when she was a little girl that loving someone and having the feeling recuperated would always fill her with warmth even on the dreariest of days, yet that was not always the case. Although love brought her memories that she would cherish forever it also brought her the worst pain imaginable.

"Do you have to leave?" the blonde haired girl asked in a quiet voice, her chocolate brown eyes shimmering with tears she so desperately tried to hold in. It was no use making him feel worse about going away, an entire continent away to be exact.

The man she had spoken to let a soft sigh escape his lips as a pair of arms encircled around his waist from behind, lighting his body with a warmth that not even a hot summer day could bring. "Luce…you know I have to. I don't-"

"Have a choice," she finished for him having heard him say this to her and himself many times already. "I know that Natsu I just…I'm going to miss you so much," she swallowed hard, willing the lump in her throat to disappear as a few tears slipped onto her pale cheeks.

The said male turned around slowly, taking her into his strong, well-toned arms as Lucy folded herself against his tall frame, burying her face into his chest as silent sobs forced her body to shake with trembles. "Lucy don't cry," Natsu begged, hating nothing else more than watching his girlfriend break down into tears, especially when he was the cause of it.

"I c-can't help it!" she managed to choke out as she kept rubbing her eyes to try and wipe away the never ending stream of tears. Another hand, a larger, familiar hand, joined hers in her task of removing her salty tears from her cheeks, his thumb swiping gently under her eye before he gripped her shoulders firmly.

Natsu pressed his lips into a thin line, gathering his disarrayed thoughts together before opening his mouth. "Luce, I need you to calm down a little and listen to me," he said gently but firmly in order to grab her attention. After a few moments the sobbing girl calmed down a bit, her cries replaced with hiccups, each one sounding like a cute little gasp coming from her pretty pink lips. Taking a deep breath the pink haired man looked at his girlfriend with love, sadness and concern shining in his eyes but buried underneath all of those emotions was a tiny beacon of light that shone with hope. Hope that everything would work out. That everything would be ok.

"Let's take this one step at a time," he instructed with a calm voice, his thumb working circles on her cheek as she nodded slightly, her blonde bangs falling into her eyes before they were pushed off to the side by him. "My first break is for Christmas, that's two months without seeing each other but you will be busy with school," he reminded her, glad she at least had that distraction in her life while he was away. Currently Lucy was attending a college nearby where she studied writing while working on her novel to the side and even juggled a job as a waitress at their friend's restaurant and bar some nights. "I know it's long but we can write to each other but I still expect you to send me a very excellent report card young lady," he wagged his finger in front of her face as he smirked playfully.

Lucy couldn't help but smile a bit as she nodded in agreement. "I won't disappoint you," she promised seriously, batting his hand away from in front of her face. "And I expect nice long letter from you," she replied in return to which he nodded, giving her an eye roll as if that were obvious to him but you could never tell with that boy at times.

"Well duh! Course I'll write ya long letters Luce! I'll have a lot to say to ya like how beautiful you are and how I miss your cooking!" he grinned at her, the smile so big that his eyes were squinted shut. He looked so adorable wearing that expression yet at the same time, so innocent. Too innocent to be going off to war. Seeing her face fall as she remembered Natsu scratched the back of his neck. "But first wanna help me finish packing? You know I'm not good with these things…" he trailed off in embarrassment.

Lucy's sad expression left as she squashed down her fears for the moment and nodded, putting on a smile for not only him but herself as well. It seemed smiling even when she didn't want to always made things a bit easier to bear. So with that smile she walked towards the closet on the right side which held his clothes which mainly consisted of worn out tees which he liked to wear. Finding some of his favorites, including one that had the restaurant name that Lucy worked at on it in white letters along with a symbol next to it. The shirt read "Fairy Tail" with a design that almost looked like half of a heart next to the bolded letters. She also added a shirt with a flaming red dragon on it and a few others. Neatly folding them she walked back to the bed with the stack in her hand and placed the shirts in his black duffle bag which lay flipped open on their bed, the dark blue coverlet almost blending in with the black. She used to have a nice pink bedspread but Natsu complained about it when he moved in wither her months ago so she finally relented and bought a new one that they both could agree on.

"Ohh I like those shirts, good picks," Natsu commented as he peered over her shoulder, his onyx colored eyes scanning the shirts before dropping a few pairs of pants that were wadded in a ball into the bag next to them.

"Natsu!" Lucy scolded him with a glare as he laughed cheekily. He hated doing laundry and usually left his clothes much like that unless she herself folded and put them away for him like she was his mother. "You really need to learn how to take care of your clothes especially since I won't be there to clean up after you," she muttered in slight annoyance but her pout was too adorable for the salmon haired man to take seriously but in order to avoid her possible unforgiveable wrath he just chuckled and kissed her lips quickly in apology, allowing her to kiss back for a moment before pulling away as he two continued packing.

With the two of them working together as a team they had the task finished relatively quickly. Natsu didn't seem all too worried with his arms crossed behind his neck as his eyes regarded Lucy who was triple checking to make sure he had absolutely everything he needed. She stopped her searching as something, or really someone, spun her around and she fell into Natsu's warm chest, looking up at him with a startled expression that made his blood burn. "N-natsu?" the blonde stuttered out in confusion.

Her answer was given to her as he smashed his lips against hers lustfully and out of nowhere, a soft squeak escaping her lips before she melted into the kiss, wrapping her arms around his neck and tangling her fingers into his soft spikes of hair at the nape of his neck. Before they could get too heated just yet, Natsu pulled away a bit so that he could look at her. Both of their cheeks were flushed and eyes bright with lust and longing. "I don't want to spend my last night with you moping over the inevitable," he said in a husky voice that caused her heart to flutter, forcing herself to not clutch her chest at the feeling but his intense gazed proved her to be immobile as if he had cast some sort of spell on her. "I wanna spend this night with you and create a happy memory that I can look back on while I'm away. I wanna enjoy tonight with you."

"Deal, as long as you promise me something," Lucy gasped out in return, her eyes narrowing a touch with seriousness, her brow scrunching up a bit. "Come home to me safe and sound. Please, do that for me that's all I ask."

Natsu's eyes softened as he placed his hand on her cheek, smoothing his thumb across her flushed cheek, her skin soft under his rough, calloused hands. "I promise I'll come back to you, nothing could ever take me away from you, ever," he said in a final tone, refusing to believe anything else. No matter what happened he would always come back to her because nothing could keep him away from her, not even death. Hell, if he did die he would haunt her for the rest of her life until she later joined him! But that wouldn't happen because he wasn't going to die in war. He would listen to his command officers, use his brains and survive for her sake because there was no way he would ever break a promise to her.

Resting his forehead against her's both slowly closed their eyes, simply taking in each other's presence and savoring the peaceful moment, relishing in the feeling of touching each other. Lucy was the first to break the position though after a few minutes by raising her head a little to kiss him. The kiss was soft and gentle, which Natsu returned but soon it morphed into lust and passion once more, hands roaming and little noises bubbling from their mouths as the duffle bag was pushed to the floor and clothes soon followed it. Together they made love to each other for the last time they would be able to for months, three months to be exact and to be more exact three months and five days. They each had a countdown ready for when they could see each other even though he hadn't even departed yet.

"I love you Natsu," Lucy mumbled softly a bit later as she rested her head against his bare, well-toned chest, his skin abnormally hot as it always seemed to be. Her golden locks of hair haloed around her adding to her innocent and content look on her face. Natsu smiled at her a little and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead, holding her close to him as he fixed the tangled sheets that lay lightly over their unclad bodies.

"I love you too," Natsu finally replied as his lips left her forehead, a happy smile gracing across his lips. It felt so right for her to say that, so right that she was in his arms, and so wrong that he wouldn't be able to see her for three months straight. Then and there he almost wanted to break down, beg her to help him find a way to stay with her, to not go off to fight for Fiore but it was his duty and he wouldn't back out like a coward so that's why he kept that smile on his face because smiling seemed to make Lucy worry less and keep the pain from hurting as much. So really he had to smile for three months straight. "Great…" he thought sarcastically in his head but shook his head, ridding himself of these negative thoughts and distracted himself by stroking Lucy's long, beautiful strands of blonde hair. "I'll be back home before you know it Luce," he whispered only to realize that his girlfriend had fallen asleep already her chest slowly moving up and down making him chuckle a little. "Goodnight Lucy," he said and gave her forehead another kiss before closing his onyx eyes and falling asleep as well to avoid the horrors of tomorrow of leaving her side.


	2. Long Distance Relationship

November

By now Natsu had been deployed for two months straight and it was slowly crushing Lucy's heart. The apartment was always clean now since the pinkette normally trashed the place with dirty clothes lying on the floor and plates littering the tables in the living room and sometimes even the bathroom which she didn't even bother on questioning at this point. Sighing since she didn't have any messes to clean up after, the blonde trudged to her bedroom, the one she usually shared with her boyfriend, and actually began organizing her clothes, deciding to group all the shirts hanging by color.

Unfortunately that didn't take her long to do so she finished rather quickly. With a soft sigh, Lucy turned towards Natsu's side of the closet and touched one of his shirts, running the cotton material against her fingers as a sad smile graced her features before she brought the material to her face and breathed in the lingering scent of ash and summer days. "Still smells like you…" she mumbled to herself. It took a few minutes for her to snap out of it and reluctantly let go of the shirt as the hanger swung back and forth as it returned to its rightful and still place.

Glancing at the clock, her heart fluttered against her ribcage as she realized what time it was. Every Sunday afternoon she was able to skype with Natsu for a bit which always cheered her up in the moment but afterwards made her have a bad case of having a heavy and lovesick heart. Lucy decided now would be a good time to try and call him so she plopped down on her bed, got comfortable with her fuzzy pink blanket and then finally placed her laptop on her lap. She scanned the usual screen and found the Skype icon and clicked on it before hitting the call button on Natsu's name. The blonde caught her lip between her teeth as she chewed on the plump pink flesh as the computer rang. Right before she was going to give up the screen froze before an image popped onto her screen of a grinning pink haired man.

"Hiya Luce!" came his voice from the computer making Lucy smile at the screen version of her boyfriend lovingly. His hair seemed to be slightly flattened which she then realized was because it was slightly damp. He must have just come out of the shower. Stretched across his chest was plain black shirt which she knew hugged his muscles which seemed to be larger every week but she supposed that made sense with all the work he was doing.

"Hey Natsu," she finally replied after what seemed like a long moment when in reality it was a second or two. "Did you get my story in the mail yet?" she asked him curiously with a slight head tilt, causing her bangs to fall into her eyes slightly and making the soldier blush slightly.

"Yeah, it just came up today!" Natsu answered and to prove this turned away from the camera as he dug around his duffle bag to pull out the said story. "Here!" he exclaimed excitedly, waving the stapled computer paper at her before setting it back down. When Natsu had said a few weeks ago that there wasn't much to do out there whenever he had a break, Lucy decided to write him short stories so he wouldn't be so bored. Every two weeks she tried to send one to him that she wrote after work, always making sure it was long enough and well written, not perfect since it was just rough drafts to entertain Natsu but still, she worked hard on them for him and for herself. She wouldn't be able to stand if she had wrote her stories poorly.

Lucy grinned when she saw the papers in his rough and calloused hands. Hands she still ached to intertwine her fingers through his again but she didn't let her sadness show through her expression knowing it would hurt the one she loved even more if she did. She knew how much he hated to see her upset and even more when she cried. "This one is about a fairy kingdom that is under attack by a dark enemy so I added some fighting scenes for you," she informed him since last week he had requested more action and less "lovey dovey crap" as he so politely put it. She was furious when he had phrased her story in that way but he quickly explained that he didn't like it because it made him want to do those things to her and it made him slightly homesick for her. Really a quick save on his part that made her heart melt and save his ears from a scolding.

Natsu's eyes gleamed when she mentioned the fighting as he thrust a fist into the air. "Yosh! Thanks honey you are the best!" he grinned at her, practically glowing with excitement. "I can't wait to read it tonight!" His praise made a blush spread across her porcelain cheeks adding a rosy glow to her bashful expression. Lucy opened her mouth to respond when he suddenly cut her off, excitement glittering in his gray eyes. "Oh and guess what?"

Lucy couldn't help but smirk a little at the man. "Gray beat you at arm wrestling?" she teased with a snicker as Natsu looked at her with a baffled yet horrified expression.

"Course not! Why would ya ever suggest such a thing?!" Natsu practically yelled through the screen making Lucy giggle softly behind her hand.

"I'm sorry I'm sorry," she said between laughs as she tried to get him to calm down before someone came and yelled at him for being too loud and annoying. "I was only kidding but what was it that you were going to tell me?"

Upon remembering what he was going to tell her, Natsu immediately stopped scowling and brightened back up to his usual chipper self. "Oh right! I just got word from my superior that I can take two weeks of leave for Christmas!"

The idea of Natsu coming home made Lucy's heart clench as she gasped softly. "Really? That's only in a few weeks!" she exclaimed in shocked happiness that she would soon be able to see him in person and not through a computer screen. She would finally be able to hug him, kiss him, hell even have sex with him. Unable to wipe the giddy smile off of her face, Lucy shook her head at him slightly. "I can't wait. What is the exact date?"

Natsu glanced down and scanned the contract in his hand quickly. "December 23!" he chirped before suddenly frowning. "But that means I may not have time to buy you a Christmas present in time," he sighed, his broad shoulders slumping a bit.

"Material gifts don't matter to me," Lucy told him seriously yet still had a smile on her face. "Having you home is the best Christmas gift I could ask for," she said and that was the absolute truth.

Natsu blushed lightly and scratched the back of his neck. "Aww Luce," he mumbled in embarrassment. "I miss you too," was all he managed to say.

"I miss you too Natsu," Lucy whispered softly, placing her hand against the computer only for Natsu to put his over her's. They stayed in content silence for a few moments before someone started yelling at Natsu from beind him, warning him that he only had five more minutes. Grumbling under his breath, Natsu gave his commander a thumbs up before turning back to the screen.

"I'm still buying you a Christmas present," he winked at her and made her blush lightly.

"You don't have-" she was cut off.

"I want to," he chuckled at her cute, surprised expression. "This will be the best Christmas we have had yet ok?"

"Ok," Lucy agreed with a quick bob of her head. "And I'll make sure to whip up a nice Christmas dinner for you," she promised, emiiting a gasp from the male as he jumped out of his seat.

"Yosh! I get to eat your food again! Home cooked meals made by my girlfriend yes!" Natsu cheered causing a pillow to be thrown at him by a long black haired man with many peircings on his face.

"Shut up, will ya pinkie?!" the other soldier yelled making Natsu flush the same color as his hair. "Some of us are trying to rest over here!"

Before all hell broke loose Lucy got Natsu's attention again as she cleared her throat, the pinkette snapping his head back to the screen. "Hey, I love you Natsu. Stay safe all right? No recklessness or else I will come over there myself to yell at you," she warned in only a half joking way.

Natsu laughed nervously under her intense gaze before relaxing and grinning at her. "Course Luce! I wouldn't endanger myself of never being able to see you again!" he waggled a finger at her as another shout came his way, making him cringe. "Sorry Lucy, I really have to go now. Love you! Bye!" he grinned at her and that was the last image she had of him as the screen went off, the call ended.

"Love you too Natsu…" Lucy said quietly to herself as tears pricked her eyes which she forced back. She wouldn't cry again, not after he had given her wonderful news of him going home. Rubbing her eyes a new fire lit her eyes full of determination. She was going to plan early and make this the best two weeks for Natsu's break home.

To start it off the young woman ran off to the small kitchen and pulled out some ingredients but before she started she tied a pink apron around her waist. Before long she had a whole box of chocolates made and only saving a few for herself, placed the rest in a small plastic container and put that container in a card board box along with a sweet note accompanied with a lip stick kiss next to her signed name. Taping the box closed with industrial sized duct tape she sealed the box shut before taking the box and setting it out by the mail box for it to be sent off. Since she had made chocolates she knew they would still be relatively fresh by the time Natsu received them. She may not be able to send him a full-fledged meal but at least she could send him some sweets that she had baked for him. It may not seem like a lot but she knew Natsu and she knew how happy a little food would make him especially with him constantly complaining about the packaged meals they fed them there.

"Don't worry Natsu, only 42 more days until we can see each other again," Lucy whispered as she locked up the house for the night, Happy, their little blue gray cat following at her heels as he always did now that Natsu was gone. "Only 42."


	3. Coming home to a Girl and a Cat

**AN: Sorry this update took a month! Finals were a killer but I passed with decent grades so all is well! Merry Early Christmas to you all and I hope you enjoy! I felt like I owed you all a little so I wrote over 2,000 words. And also I'm trying different font style for this chapter so tell me if you like this better or not. Enjoy! -CelestialSpiritQueen**

Today was the day. After being deployed for two months Natsu was finally able to come home just in time for Christmas…or so that had been the plan. Lucy sat in a chair just outside of the gate that Natsu would come out of any minute but soon those minutes turned to hours. Something had ended up happening which pushed back their arrival time a bit. On top of that all there was a huge snow storm. Lucy paced around the airport, trying to distract herself by walking around, buying food and playing on her phone.

"Miss? Miss!" a voice woke her up from her slumber. Lucy blinked her sleepy eyes, looking around to get used to her surroundings. She must have fallen asleep waiting for Natsu's plane to come in. Letting out a yawn she let her gaze shift upwards and met the eyes of a security guard. "Excuse me Miss, we have an update on the plane's arrival," he said which woke Lucy right up. Scrambling to sit up, she accidently fell out of her chair she had camped out in.

"You do? Is it almost here?" Lucy bombarded the man with questions in her frenzied state. The man in blue tried to calm her down as the blonde hopped back to her feet.

"All I know is that the reason for their take off delay was because the base they were at was attacked," the worker informed her and watched as all color drained from the girl's face. "All I am saying is to prepare for the worst, I know not everyone made it. The plane should be arriving in about four fours."

Lucy stared at her lap, clenching her fists as fresh tears brimmed in her doe brown eyes. "T-thank you for telling me," she managed to choke out and waited for the man to leave before allowing herself to cry softly. Her knuckles were white as she fisted her white pleated skirt, her eyes squeezed shut as the thought of Natsu possibly never coming home consumed her. "Mom, please give me the strength that I need," she whispered, her hands clasped together in front of her. So she spent the rest of the night praying and hoping that Natsu was safe.

Hours later a familiar voice called out to her. "Hey, now that's not the kind of face I wanted to see you making!" Lucy let out a gasp, her head shooting up at the voice. Standing before her was none other than her pink haired boyfriend, clad in his camouflage uniform. His left arm was in a make shift sling but other than that he looked fine.

A slow grin spread across Lucy's face before she leapt off her seat and ran right for Natsu, a happy laugh emitting from her as she hugged him close. She felt his good arm wrap around her and everything felt normal again. "I was so worried about you!" the blonde broke down into more tears but this time, ones of joy and relief.

"Hehe, sorry 'bout that Luce," Natsu answered with his trademark grin, his stone colored eyes though were not as bright as they used to be. "I promised ya that I would be home so here I am and man am I starving!" he said right as his stomach rumbled.

Lucy let out a weak laugh, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. "All right army guy, I have some food ready at home I just need to heat it up."

"Yosh!" he fist bumped the air in his excitement. "Your home cooked meals again! Yes I am so excited!" he cheered as he followed her out of the airport. People kept giving him looks, noticing his uniform and murmuring to the person next to them. Lucy tried not to be bothered by it since Natsu didn't seem to care or notice. Whichever one it was it didn't really matter, she wouldn't let this ruin her reunion with her boyfriend.

"So, what happened to your arm?" Lucy questioned, pressing a button on her car keys to make her little silver car unlock. She put his bag in the trunk while he got in the passenger seat and got settled. He had taken his motion sickness pills on the plane so hopefully they wouldn't wear off while he was with her in the car. It would but a damper on the mood if he puked all over the interior of the car.

"I think I dislocated it," he finally answered, having waited to do so until she was in the car. He felt the car start moving and suppressed a groan of discomfort. Stupid transportation.

"How did that happen?" Lucy asked worriedly, sealing a glance at him from her peripheral as she focused on the icy roads, driving slowly to avoid losing control of the vehicle.

Natsu scratched his cheek with his right hand while staring out the window. "You probably heard already but it was right before I got on the plane," he said but didn't elaborate further so she didn't push. "I need to get it checked out soon by a doctor though."

"I'll take you to the hospital tomorrow," Lucy promised and offered him her hand to hold and soon felt her hand being gently squeezed. "We can get you checked out and all patched up!" she chirped but she frowned when she saw him slump his shoulders. "What?"

"But tomorrow is Christmas Eve…" he pointed out with a sigh. "I wanted to spend tomorrow with you and also buy you a present."

"You can still do all of that," she promised. "I'll make sure of it. And we have to make Christmas cookies tomorrow as well," she added thoughtfully as she ran through her mental check list for the next day. "And I have to finish wrapping presents for Levy and Erza and Juvia…" she listed off a few more names. "Then I have to go to the store and make sure I have all the ingredients for Christmas dinner-"

"That sure is a lot to do!" Natsu interrupted with a laugh so he wouldn't hear the rest of her chore list. "And I'll help in whatever way I can!"

"You don't have to Natsu, you just got home."

"So you expect me to sit on the couch and do nothing? Ain't no way that that's happening!" he snorted, shaking his head and sending his spikes of hair swaying.

"All right but then I better not hear any complaining coming out of you," Lucy teased with a playful smile crossing her lips.

"Me? Complain about helping out around the house?" he clutched his chest with feigned shock. "I am appalled that you would ever suggest such a thing from me!"

"Oh shut up you liar," she laughed with him as she pulled into their driveway. "Ok here is the house key, you open up the house while I get your bag and carry it."

"Luce I don't know if that's a good idea," Natsu tried to warn her as he stepped out of the car with her.

"And why is that? I can carry a bag stop trying to be such a gentle-what the hell is in here rocks?!" Lucy practically screamed as she failed to barely lift the bag out of the trunk. Taking the bag from Natsu briefly to simply just drop it into the trunk was not too bad but lifting it up? Well that was just impossible!

"Told ya," the soldier smirked as he easily hefted the bag up with one arm, his muscles bulging slightly under his sleeves. "Now open the door for me please this thing is pretty heavy."

Lucy grumbled something under her breath but still admired his strength even though she wouldn't admit it right now as she unlocked the front door and kept it open so that he could follow behind. She watched as he dumped the bag by the couch and kicked off his tan boots by the door when suddenly a streak of blue was aimed right for him. When it hit him he stumbled back a bit, a laugh rumbling deep in his chest. "Happy!" Natsu cried out happily, hugging the blue ball of fur to his chest. The blue car purred crazily, thrilled that his other owner had come back home as he rubbed his head against him. "I missed you too little buddy," he smiled with tears in his eyes. "I'm going to spoil you and Luce even more than I usually do while I'm here!"

Happy meowed in return, his white tipped tail flicking from side to side. "All right you two love birds time to eat," Lucy joked while Natsu made at face at her but when she threatened to not feed him he was back to kissing her feet and the very ground she stood on.

"Oh boy that smells delicious!" Natsu tried cozying up to her.

"Natsu it's still in the fridge I haven't microwaved it yet."

"Oh…well I bet it will when it is heated up!" he tried again and kissed his girlfriend's cheek as she passed him.

"Yeah yeah stop your flattery I'm not going to deprive you of food," she reassured him but rolled his eyes when he sighed in relief like he was actually scared she would be so cruel to him. Digging out two plates from the fridge she put the one with a heaping amount of more food into the microwave. She started the timer and turned back to Natsu as he grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge.

"So I was just thinking…" he started after chugging down his entire water bottle and grabbing another one. "That because of my injury I may get a month off to recover," he told her thoughtfully before he was being crushed in a hug. "Gahhh! Lucy that hurts!" he cried out in pain since she was touching his wounded arm.

"Oops sorry!" she gasped and quickly let go but that didn't stop the grin from leaving her face. "But this is great! Not that you are hurt but the fact that you might be able to stay home longer!"

"I knew what you meant," Natsu chuckled softly as he slung one arm around her shoulders and pulled her back close to him. Gently he pressed his lips against the side of her head, enjoying holding her in his arms, well arm, again. Her skin felt cool against his warm body, as if fire pulsed through his veins rather than blood. Making a soft sound of content, Lucy nuzzled closer against him, closing her eyes and enjoying the blissful moment between them. Time seemed to stand still for a-

"Graaaaghhhh!" Natsu's stomach screamed in protest between the two making Lucy shove him away playfully.

"Way to ruin the moment Natsu," Lucy teased as she escaped from his grasp as she finished preparing dinner for them.

"Luce, I didn't mean to! I tell ya my stomach has a mind of its own! It's like a monster lives in there and eats everything so that must be why I am always hungry," he whined childishly as she ignored him for the most part. The only indication that she was listening was the smirk that rested on her pale pink lips. "Fine, have it your way…"

"Natsu! Stop that!" Lucy roared with laughter as he pulled her against himself once more only to tickle her in all her weak spots like her stomach and her armpits. Tears sprang into the poor girl's eyes as she managed to choke out between laughs, "Mercy! I give up! I surrender!"

Natsu was the one smirking now and gave her a final tickle before releasing her, allowing her to catch her breath. "Have enough princess?" he teased her with a laugh.

"If you weren't already hurt you would have been by now," Lucy pouted at him but her expression soon relaxed when he planted a chaste kiss upon her lips.

"It's good to be home Luce," he admitted with a loving smile headed her way.

"It's good to have you home," Lucy smiled up at him with happy tears shining in her eyes not for the first time that day. Now, at least for a little while, she wouldn't be lonely. It was always more fun when they were together.


End file.
